&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbspInsight from InfoTrends

In today’s market, making a good first impression is everything. With information overload at every turn, people will now only glance at a website, mailpiece, or video before deciding whether it’s worth their time. Marketers are seeking strategies to create better pieces with strong visual appeal that prompt the consumer to read further or take action. For many marketers, this means turning to color and personalization.

An Infographic from Kissmetrics on how color can affect conversions highlighted the psychological impact of color on the human brain. Key statistics are as follows:

93% of people say that the visual dimension is the #1 influencing sense that affects their purchasing decision (over taste, smell, etc.).

Studies suggest that people make a subconscious judgment about a product within 90 seconds of initially viewing it. Up to 90% of this assessment is based on color alone.

It is no wonder that today’s marketers are focused on adding more and more color to communications. According to InfoTrends’ 2016 State of the Market Study on Customer Engagement Technologies, over 80% of enterprises stated that full-color printing for promotional and transactional communications is important.

Figure 1: How important do you think it is to switch printed communications from black & white to full color?

According to InfoTrends’ study entitled Direct Marketing Production Printing & Value-Added Services: A Strategy for Growth, the intelligent use of color in direct mail often generates improved response rates. Full-color images can capture a consumer’s attention with realistic depictions of advertised products. Color can also be used to personalize messages by matching pictures or text to items that the customer has purchased in the past. Furthermore, nearly 49% of consumers reported that seeing color on an envelope had a moderate or major effect on their likelihood of opening it.

The use of color in customer communications is not a new phenomenon. Historically, direct mailers and transactional communication service bureaus have digitally printed in black & white and relied on offset-printed shells to provide color design elements such as logos, highlighted text, and tints. Today, however, digital technologies can deliver near-offset quality and high speeds, all while meeting today’s marketing requirements for 100% variable content and envelope messaging.

For marketers, the inkjet value proposition transcends far beyond cost per print. It offers the ability to deliver color that gets noticed with a completely new approach to communications. Service providers must educate customers about how inkjet technology blends full color with individualized messaging to drive business growth. Print/marketing service providers must articulate how they can support enterprises in delivering communications efficiently and effectively.

The investment in inkjet is about delivering new levels of value to your customer base. Today’s print engines, finishing technologies, and workflow solutions have the flexibility to deliver on the age-old promise of one-to-one personalized messaging in full color. Marketing executives are seeking techniques to improve customer loyalty and grow their businesses with more engaging and dynamic communications. It’s time for service providers to have the right conversations with customers and help them get noticed!

For more information on InfoTrends’ 2016 State of the Market Study on Customer Engagement Technologies or InfoTrends’ Direct Marketing Production Printing & Value-Added Services study, please contact Keith LaVangie at (781)616-2132 or keith.lavangie@infotrends.com.

drupa is the largest printing equipment and supplies manufacturer exhibition in the world. This year’s event will feature over 1,800 exhibitors and a projected 300,000 visitors (40%+ German, 8% Indian, 7% Belgian, 7% French, 6% Dutch, 5% British, and <5% North American), all in the span of 11 days (May 31 – June 10, 2016). Our industry has changed dramatically since The Great Recession, but marketers and business executives continue to watch their pennies and scrutinize every decision while exploring new and different ways to do business in today’s economy. As drupa looms, business owners, decision-makers, and participants alike may question the value of exhibiting at and attending trade events when information is so readily available on personal computers and mobile devices.

Now in its fourth year, nGage/NAPCO’s 2016 Inkjet Summit attracted 117 attendees and 46 sponsor companies. The concept of the event is relatively simple—locate prospective buyers of high-speed inkjet equipment, pay their way to a resort location, sit them down for case study presentations and one-on-one meetings with sponsors, and foster highly informative panel discussions with industry peers. This model is designed to bring decision-makers and suppliers together. In most instances, the participants have done their research ahead of time and will already have a pretty good idea of what they need. At this year’s event, about 80% of the attendees were just starting their inkjet journey. The remaining 20% were existing users who attended to share their experiences and educate the market.

For 2016, nGage and NAPCO created a series of tracks focused on critical trends and new applications in direct mail, book publishing, commercial printing, and transactional printing. There were also a number of sessions that focused on inkjet trends and technologies, substrates, and what to expect at drupa (May 31 – June 10, 2016 in Düsseldorf, Germany). Read more »

The 14th Edition of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (XRIJF) wrapped up on Saturday, June 27 after nine days of 320+ shows, including 90+ free concerts at 19 venues with 1,500+ artists. In addition to listening to some great music, the in-plant executives in attendance had the opportunity to attend a Xerox educational session where they could learn how to “Amp Up their In-Plant.”

The session opened with a keynote speech from Barb Pellow, Group Director at InfoTrends. She shared her perspective on what it will take to reinvent in-plant operations in today’s environment. Pellow stated, “Nearly every industry is undergoing a major transformation that is being driven by new and emerging technologies. None has been more heavily impacted than the printing industry, and this is only exacerbating the challenges that in-plant managers face today. The key is to disrupt the status quo long before there is a need to do so.” According to Pellow, successful in-plants must build a vision, retool their services, reinvent their customer bases, expand their sphere of influence, properly position their new offerings, invest in operational excellence, and instill a culture of innovation. Read more »

Last week, like many others I braved snow, sleet, and freezing rain to get to DscoopX in Washington DC. While the weather outside was less than desirable, there was tremendous spirit and enthusiasm for the industry and digital technologies inside the Gaylord Convention Center.

More than 2,000 print professionals from 41 countries and over 115 business partners participated to share perspectives on how to “Xpand Print”. According to show organizers that means that since inception more than 20,000 HP end users worldwide have participated in a Dscoop event. DscoopX had the largest Dscoop solutions showcase ever with over 45,000 square feet of exhibitions. It had the biggest HP presence in the solutions showcase in Dscoop history featuring an HP Indigo 30000, HP Indigo 20000, two HP Indigo 10000 units, and an array of large format technology all showcasing applications and opportunities for digital technology.Read more »

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in Dscoop9 in Orlando, Florida. I got to see more than 2,000 print professionals and over 100 business partners focus on the conference directive of “breaking the mold.” According to Chris Petro, Dscoop’s Chairman and the President and CEO of GlobalSoft Digital Solutions, attendees visited from 33 countries around the world. In addition, 30% of print service providers were first-time attendees.

Education was a critical area of emphasis at Dscoop9, and the Dscoop University portal was officially unveiled at this year’s event. John Tenwinkel, Director of Dscoop University, states, “Dscoop University is designed to provide industry-leading personalized education to help users enhance their corporate strategies and grow their businesses. This blended learning environment offers 24/7 access to training, on-demand content, live-streaming and downloadable resources, and in-person courses. The content is tailored to various job functions, including business owners, sales and marketing, and operations. Dscoop University is designed to ensure that educational opportunities don’t end with the conference.”

Print has been the ultimate portable media for a very long time–ever since someone thought to write on a tablet that could be transported rather than writing on a cave wall. Today, devices like smartphones and iPads have become a primary source of portable media from which we can obtain information and communicate. Technology is certainly moving fast, but that doesn’t mean that print has to be left in the dust. In just the past several weeks, the market has seen tremendous examples of companies that are combining print and mobile technologies to deliver enhanced value.

Throughout 2010 and 2011, Calvin Klein will be featuringÂ a new ad campaign promoting its X jeans. Three billboards (at Houston and Lafayette Street in New York, at West 20th Street and 10th Avenue in New York, and at Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive in Los Angeles) are displaying a Calvin Klein QR code that gives device users access to a mobile video featuring models in the company’s latest X jeans. The QR code included in Calvin Klein’s billboards enables consumers to scan at street level to view an exclusive 40-second spot on their mobile devices.